Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar parts ways with PPP

Says spent good time with the party but to continue further would be tantamount to compromising on my self-respect

Outspoken Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar on Friday announced parting ways with the party, weeks after he stepped down as senator.

In an interview with a local TV channel, Khokhar confirmed the development saying he spent good time with the party leadership “but to continue further would be tantamount to compromising on my self-respect”.

The former PPP leader said as per his assumptions the party leadership had earlier sought his resignation from Senate over his views on human rights issues.

Responding to a question over PPP’s reservations on his political views, Khokhar said the establishment’s influence in the country’s political matters had increased significantly. “But certainly the PPP gave me space [to speak openly] which I believe no other party could have given,” he remarked.

Calling the PML-N-led coalition government “Hybrid regime 2.0”, the former senator said all decisions taken by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif could not have been taken even during his predecessor Imran Khan’s government.

Last month, Khokhar announced resigning as a senator on the demand of his party's leadership, which was “unhappy” over his political views on the matters related to civil liberties.

Also read: PPP's Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar says he will quit as senator

“Met a senior leader from the party today. He conveyed that the party leadership wasn’t happy with my political positions and wanted my resignation from the Senate. I gladly agreed to resign,” the PPP leader wrote on his official Twitter handle.

Khokhar had played an exceptional inning as a senator, especially as the chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights.

As the chief of the Senate panel, he took several notices over the violation of human rights in all over the country. He had even summoned the IG FC Balochistan in a human right matter.

Once, a senior military officer had contacted Khokhar to tell him not to hold a committee meeting on missing persons. However, he straight away declined his advice.